Slapper and Kelly’s The English Legal System explains and critically assesses how our law is made and applied. Annually updated, this authoritative textbook clearly describes the legal rules of England and Wales and their collective influence as a sociocultural institution.

This latest edition of The English Legal System presents and analyses changes made to the legal system by the coalition government, and digests recent legislation and case law. The Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010, the Crime and Security Act 2010, the Coroners and Justice Act 2009, new European law, and the latest decisions of the Supreme Court are all incorporated into the text, and this edition also digests recent research on the work of juries and the criminal courts, and the 2011 changes to the regulation of, and Government contributions towards, legal services.

Key learning features include:

a clear and logical structure with short, manageable, well-structured individual chapters;

useful chapter summaries which act as a good check point for students;

sources for further reading and suggested websites at the end of each chapter to point students towards further learning pathways;

an online skills network including how tos, practical examples, tips, advice and interactive examples of English law in action.

Relied upon by generations of students, Slapper and Kelly’s The English Legal System is a permanent fixture in this ever evolving subject.

Contents

1. Law and Legal Study 2. Rule of Law and Human Rights 3. Sources of Law 4. The Civil Courts 5. The Civil Process 6. The Criminal Courts 7. The Criminal Process: (1) The Investigation of Crime 8. The Criminal Process: (2) The Prosecution 9. The Judiciary 10. Judicial Reasoning 11. The Jury 12. Arbitration, Tribunal Adjudication and Alternative Dispute Resolution 13. Legal Services 14. The Funding of Legal Services 15. The European Context

Author Bio

Gary Slapper is P of Law, and Director of the Centre for Law, at The Open University, and writes a legal column for The Times.

David Kelly was Principal Lecturer in Law at Staffordshire University.